Shejidan / What have you been reading lately?

**Posted by Kokipy** 1/11/2022 7:51 pm

I agree, of course. I want to note here my idea that CJC may have been hitting that pong pong ball about clone nature/nurture back at Frank Herbert.

**Posted by Surtac** 1/11/2022 8:07 pm

Yes! Kokipy touches on another important point here - the idea that Science Fiction has always had buried at its heart that it is as much a conversation between ideas as it is a genre of entertainment forms.

**Posted by joekc6nlx** 1/12/2022 9:09 am

Surtac wrote:
Yes! Kokipy touches on another important point here - the idea that Science Fiction has always had buried at its heart that it is as much a conversation between ideas as it is a genre of entertainment forms.

Would that be a reference to the Bene Tleilax's axolotl tanks where they cloned copy after copy of Duncan Idaho?

**Posted by Surtac** 4/20/2022 4:09 am

Realised I haven't posted in here for many weeks now. It wasn't deliberate and it's not a sign that I haven't been reading.

In fact, I've probably been reading more lately than I was in the last part of last year, or, at least finishing books at a much faster rate. No, my issue has been that what I have been reading is mostly not SF/F. I have read some recent SF/F - Ken MacLeod, KJ Parker, James SA Corey titles come to mind - but what I've mainly been binging is British and Scandi crime novels, specifically tartan noir and similar but older nordic noir authors.

Also I've been dipping my toe into a couple of more literary fiction styles, and I have read a couple of absolutely excellent musician memoirs that deserve wider praise but I'm loath to mention them because musical taste is such a personal thing.

I'm happy to come back with more details if anyone is remotely interested but don't feel obliged. If it is keeping me sane by stopping me from doomscrolling our upcoming federal election, then that's a positive outcome, right?

**Posted by joekc6nlx** 4/25/2022 5:26 pm

because I like crossword puzzles and acrostics, many of them refer to characters in the Harry Potter books, and I am woefully unaware and ignorant of the answers. So, I read the first book, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone", definitely a children's book. But I enjoyed it.

**Posted by Griffinmoon** 4/25/2022 9:25 pm

Been going back through all my Larry Niven books.

**Posted by Pence** 4/27/2022 12:05 pm

I'm rereading 'Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking'. The title is somewhat misleading - it is not a cookbook more a conbination of memoir and social history, looking at Russia through food by decades of the 20th century. It is a most illuminating book.

**Posted by starexplorer** 4/28/2022 11:23 am

Fiction
The Able Archers by Brian Morra
Fictionalized account of the 1983 near-miss nuclear exchange following the tensions that involved the shooting down of KAL Flight 007 and associated events by a former high ranking CIA officer who was involved. The content is interesting enough to overlook the writing itself.

Nonfiction
Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas by Jennifer Raff

**Posted by Aja Jin** 4/29/2022 8:08 am

I recently finished a pair of books by NK Jemisin, The Killing Moon and The Shadowed Sun (Dreamblood duology). A vivid, interesting world, with a unique magic system and resulting society. A non-spoiler tidbit, it's set on a world orbiting a gas giant.

Highly recommended if you like this sort of fantasy.

From the book summary: "in the ancient city-state of Gujaareh, peace is the only law. Upon its rooftops and amongst the shadows of its cobbled streets wait the Gatherers -- the keepers of this peace. Priests of the dream-goddess, their duty is to harvest the magic of the sleeping mind and use it to heal, soothe . . . and kill those judged corrupt."

Last edited by Aja Jin (4/29/2022 8:09 am)

**Posted by Aja Jin** 4/29/2022 8:12 am

Now I'm on book #2 of the Rivers of London series. Well written and fun, I'm re-reading as the lead up to book #9 "Amongst our Weapons".

Just joining the TBR pile, Nettle and Bone, T. Kingfisher.